Um, what were they thinking?
About a month ago, we celebrated "principal day" at our school. This was the brainchild of the the middle school community service class, which pointed out that there was a teacher-day and a parent-day, but no principal day. They decided to take care of the omission, and organized several events.
So my fourth graders were planning to make a giant thank-you card. I asked the class for some ideas of what the principal did, so that we could be specific in our thank-yous. There was silence.
Finally, a young man raised his hand, his customary dare-devil grin spreading across on his face. (Uh-oh, I thought. The lad is quite a showman, and I wasn't sure what he was going to say.)
"Well, for one thing," he said, "He pays your salary, doesn't he?" He seemed extremely pleased by this remark.
I started to say that it wasn't actually the principal, but the school that paid when a series of expressions sprinted across his face. With genuine astonishment, he said,
"Hang on a minute, do you actually get paid for teaching us?"
Several other kids chimed in. "Yeah, you get paid for being here?"
I threw my hands up and snapped something about no, I work a night shift to pay for the rent. But you gotta be careful with sarcasm at this age, so I then hurridly assured them that I do, indeed, get paid for teaching them. From the number of surprised faces, this idea had never occurred to many of them.
It's so amusing to stumble across the knowledge gaps that kids sometimes have.
So my fourth graders were planning to make a giant thank-you card. I asked the class for some ideas of what the principal did, so that we could be specific in our thank-yous. There was silence.
Finally, a young man raised his hand, his customary dare-devil grin spreading across on his face. (Uh-oh, I thought. The lad is quite a showman, and I wasn't sure what he was going to say.)
"Well, for one thing," he said, "He pays your salary, doesn't he?" He seemed extremely pleased by this remark.
I started to say that it wasn't actually the principal, but the school that paid when a series of expressions sprinted across his face. With genuine astonishment, he said,
"Hang on a minute, do you actually get paid for teaching us?"
Several other kids chimed in. "Yeah, you get paid for being here?"
I threw my hands up and snapped something about no, I work a night shift to pay for the rent. But you gotta be careful with sarcasm at this age, so I then hurridly assured them that I do, indeed, get paid for teaching them. From the number of surprised faces, this idea had never occurred to many of them.
It's so amusing to stumble across the knowledge gaps that kids sometimes have.